This invention relates to a dispenser for dispensing a multiplicity of doses of a substance in powder or granular form contained in a reservoir forming part of the dispenser, this latter being of the type in which to form a dose a shaft must be rotated relative to a part of the dispenser, the shaft having to be substantially vertical while the dose is being formed.
A dispenser of the aforesaid type is described for example in Italian patent application MI96A001448 of the present applicant. Such a dispenser falls within the scope of protection of EP-B0424970 and in addition is provided with a closure and protection adaptor which has to be removed, or opened, to enable the user to gain access to the individual dose dispensed. The presence of said adaptor is particularly useful if the dispenser is an inhaler for medicaments in powder form, and the individual dose to be administered to the patient is so small that the patient is unable to tell whether the dose has been effectively inhaled or not. In this respect, to be able to inhale the dose the patient has to remove or open the adaptor, this requiring a first part of the actual inhaler unit (ie without the adaptor) to be rotated relative to a second part, this automatically resulting in the formation of a dose of medicament withdrawn from a reservoir.
The application or, respectively, the closure of the adaptor restores the initial condition.
The accompanying FIGS. 1 to 5 illustrate, as an example of a dispenser falling within the scope of MI96A001448, a multi-dose inhaler for medicaments in powder form, provided with a removable adaptor. An English-language translation of Italian patent application no. MI96A001448 is set forth in Appendix A, which is incorporated herein by this reference. These figures basically reproduce the analogous figures of Italian patent application MI96A001448 (however retaining only the reference numerals of interest herein).